BAGHDAD (AP) – In the crowded emergency room of Baghdad’s main public hospital, Ali Abbas was left with his skin uncovered waiting for his ailing father. Dozens of other patients and their relatives mingled without masks.
It is a scene that confuses health workers in Iraq, who warn that the country is entering a new wave of coronavirus cases, in part because many are shunning precautions.
“I don’t believe in the coronavirus, I believe in God,” Abbas, 21, said in the center of the hospital floor, challenging the rules of facilities that require masks.
On Friday, Iraq was on the first full day of a new curfew imposed by the government in response to infection rates that have skyrocketed again after last fall’s relaxation. The curfew works all Friday from Sunday to Sunday, and from 20 to 05 hours the rest of the week. According to a government statement, mosques and schools are closed, large gatherings are banned and the use of masks and other protective equipment is carried out.
A complete closure is also being considered, including the closure of airports and borders, according to two government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to report to the media.
New cases, which fell from less than 600 a day just a month ago, have risen sharply, to 3,896 a day on February 18 and approaching the September daily high of more than 5,000. The Ministry of Health says 50% of new cases come from the new most infectious strain that first broke out in the UK. More than 657,000 people have been infected with the virus in Iraq and 13,220 have died since February.
Doctors told The Associated Press that they have seen how the splendor has been going on for weeks. They blame a careless public and a government unable to fully implement virus protocols.
“I am a doctor who fights against public ignorance, not against the pandemic,” said Mohammed Shahada, a pulmonologist at al-Zahra Hospital in Baghdad.
At al-Zahra Hospital, the year began with just four patients in the 90-bed isolation ward. In early February, this happened to 30 patients with severe viruses. Shahada expects more in the coming weeks.
At his private clinic, some patients have come out instead of complying with his strict face mask requirement, he said.
Ismail Taher, a doctor at Baghdad’s Sheikh Zayed Hospital, estimated that only one in ten people who entered his hospital wore masks.
The Ministry of Health said earlier this month that a new wave was being driven by religious activities (including Friday prayers and visits to shrines) and a large crowd in markets, restaurants, shopping malls and parks, where greetings with handshakes and kisses are the norm.
The ministry also blamed “some people who openly question the existence of the pandemic.”
This is a common feeling.
“It’s just the flu,” said Yahya Shammari, a 28-year-old college student. “I went to the hospital twice without a mask and I didn’t get infected.”
Rahem Shabib, 32, said he noticed infection rates declined after the Arbaeen Shiite Muslim pilgrimage in October. “So God is stronger than COVID-19,” he said.
Arbaeen brings millions of people from around the world to Iraq for commemorations related to the 7th-century assassination of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad of Islam. This year, Iraq banned the attendance of foreign pilgrims, greatly reducing the numbers.
Mac Skelton, a medical sociologist at the American University of Iraq in Sulaimaniyah, said the heartbreaking attitude was not so much rooted in ignorance as in the realities facing Iraqis.
Iraqis have suffered so many calamities in recent decades, including wars, political violence and sanctions, that COVID-19 “may not pile up as a major problem,” he said.
Also, government-centered pandemic policies are not related to the way Iraqis deal with the disease, Skelton said. In the midst of years of instability, Iraqis had to devise their own strategies, as health care was unavailable or distrustful of hospitals, which in the midst of sectarian struggles became dangerous places to go.
Thus, they look for pharmacists, nurses, help from neighbors or even cross-border to treat diseases.
“Most doctors aren’t so surprised, because they know that patients would refuse to go to the hospital unless they were looking for air and had no choice,” said Skelton, director of the Institute for Regional Studies. and Internationals of the university.
This also suggests that Ministry of Health statistics, based on tests conducted in government laboratories, are an understatement, as many Iraqis may give up testing altogether and choose to recover at home.
Iraq’s centralized health system, virtually unchanged since the 1970s, has been ravaged by decades of wars, sanctions and protracted disruptions since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Successive governments have invested little in the sector.
The combination of virus patients with other people has also aggravated the number of cases, doctors said. Shahada Hospital was reserved exclusively for patients with viruses; but no longer, and patients with COVID-19 and other people share rooms where CT scans, MRIs and X-rays are done, Shahada said.
So far, Iraq has not faced a shortage of medical supplies or ICU capacity. But that could change if cases skyrocket, doctors said.
The Ministry of Health said it plans to start administering vaccines by the end of March. The government has allocated funds to insure 1.5 million vaccines from Pzifer and has signed a contract for 2 million more from AstraZeneca. Little has been announced about how the inoculation will proceed.
Now, more than ever, government officials are worried that it will be difficult to change established habits.
As restrictions eased after September, life returned to Iraq. In Baghdad, restaurants are full and facial masks are rarely seen. Further south in Basra, residents spend the day as if the pandemic never reached the southern shores, sharing meals in crowded cafes and shaking hands.
“Changing public awareness is the only way to stop another lethal virus outbreak,” Health Minister Hasan al-Tamimi told the AP on the sidelines of a recent press conference.
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Associated Press writer Samya Kullab in Baghdad contributed to this report.